Hey everyone! Welcome back! If you were surprised at the lack of an update the past weeks, sorry about that.
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There is a more in detail explanation on my profile, but you guys don't care about that so the short version is: End of school year craziness= not having the energy to write, beginning of summer craziness= not having the energy to write, going camping for a week= not being able to write, not being able to write= having to speed write something so you guys can enjoy it. So yea, there's more that I left out, but those are the basics.
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Anyhow, let's get started!
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Keith flew through the air, shooting various Galra ships. Every now and then, he would glance towards the ground and see where Nico was at.
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Unsurprisingly, Nico was demolishing the sentries while keeping all of the people safe. Keith didn't see Nico use any of the abilities he mentioned, though it was sunny so he probably couldn't shadow-travel; and seeing how hesitant Nico was to share of his Necromancy ability, he probably wasn't very fond of using it.
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They formed Voltron and destroyed the last of the Galra ships before Keith flew down to the surface where Nico was waiting patiently for him.
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Keith let Nico back in Red and then headed for the castle to talk with the others.
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"You did well" Keith said, breaking the silence that loomed over the cockpit
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Nico shrugged, "Wasn't too hard"
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They fell back into an uncomfortable silence before Pidge got on the comms, "Keith, Nico, get back here quickly; I might have found something"
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"Were on our way" Keith responded before speeding up
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As Nico entered the control room with Keith by his side, he saw everyone else grouped around Pidge's chair.
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"What's up" Nico asked curiously as he leaned against the back of Pidge's chair, looking down at the screen pulled up
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"While we were liberating that planet, I ran a program that cross referenced what we salvaged from Sendak's memories, and the intel we got from the downed ship on Arus."
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"Ok, and who's Sendak?"
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"He's one of Zarkon's highest ranking generals" Allura responded
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"And... how did we get his memories"
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"He attacked while we were still on Arus and took over the castle. We defeated him and kept him as a prisoner. Shiro ejected him into space, but we were able to get some of his memories while he was here."
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"So... he's dead now"
"He should be"
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"Cool" Nico turned back to Pidge "So, what'd you find"
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"Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating, something called a 'Universal Station'"
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"'Universal Station?' Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe" Hunk asked, leaning into the screen
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"Well, we are translating it from Galra so it could also be 'Galactic Hub'" Pidge said before pushing Hunk away
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"Or 'Space Base'" Lance interjected
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Everyone looked at Lance, not amused. "What?"
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"I'm pulling up the location of your Universal-Hub-Station-Base, on our screens now," Coran said, walking towards his control panel.
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Pulled up on the screens was...absolutely nothing. Well, not nothing, a couple of planets and what looked to be an asteroid, but no kind of hub or base.
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"So, where is it?" Lance asked
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"I don't know..." Coran said "Our long-ranged sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates."
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"Maybe he remembered it wrong" Keith suggested
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"Or maybe, we just stumbled across a top-secret base in Sendak's memories" Pidge countered
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"Only one way to find out, let's go take a look" Allura said
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It didn't take long to get there, but it was long enough for Hunk to fall asleep. Nico just sat down on the raised platform thingie and waited quietly.
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"We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed" Allura announced as they peered around a planet.
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There they saw a base mounted on one of the planets, Galra ships were coming in and out.
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"There it is" Shiro said
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They all looked pretty stunned to see that it was, in fact, there.
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"It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners." Coran revealed
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"So, you can only see it if you really know where to look" Pidge noted
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They watched as a Galra ship left the base and another took its place.
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"His place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire." Shiro said
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"If this is just some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?" Pidge asked
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"There must be more to this than we're seeing" Shiro responded
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"Then we'd better go down to take a look. We'll need to enter here: the central control building" Allura said
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"I'm sorry Princess, did you say 'we'?" Keith asked
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"I'm going with you, I've traveled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you."
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"Princess, I'd rather you'd stay here" Coran said with a worried expression
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"I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going"
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They looked to Shiro, wanting him to get her to change her mind. But before he could, Nico spoke up.
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"If she wants to come, let her come. None of us have been to one of these things before, especially me, so her help will be needed. Even if the information is a little out-dated, it will still help" They all looked at him stunned, Coran looked as if Nico had murdered his dog
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"Thank you Nico. Now, does anyone have a problem with this"
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They again looked to Shiro, who just shrugged, "Fine, suit up"
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Coran looked absolutely horrified and the others were visibly confused. On the other hand, Allura looked quite pleased.
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"Great, now that we've cleared that up, what's the plan?" Nico asked
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"We'll have to go in low, fast, and hopefully undetected. Going around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Pidge's modifications to the green lion, we'll have thirty seconds of cloaking."
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"I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst. That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it's cosmic interference." Coran offered, "But after that, it's up to you to be out of sight."
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As they started their infiltration, Nico tried his best to remain calm, he quietly reached into the floor with his powers, scanning for anything he might be able to use if a battle were to happen. Like he expected, he felt nothing, no bones, no bodies, not a single spirit. That was bad.
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"Interference clear in three, two, one." Said an auto-mated voice from inside the room
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A guard yawned and Shiro quietly caught his attention. When he turned around, Shiro hit him, launching him onto the deck in front. The only other ones were sentries, so after a couple quiet shots, they had control over the center.
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Pidge hooked things up to Shiro's arm while Keith and Nico checked for anything that could blow their cover. Hunk hooked something up to the panel and Pidge started to hack into the station.
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Hunk and Pidge started to talk about the improvements they made since they last tried to download Galra information. Then, Hunk tried to go into this story about a professor and the Garrison, which Nico had never heard of, but before he could get to it, Keith spoke up.
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"Guys, I think we have company"
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A ship was docking and everyone moved out of sight. A transmission appeared and they saw a Galra officer walk onto the screen.
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He looked confused when he saw nobody on the other end.
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"He's still looking. I think he's waiting for a signal or something" Lance said. Nico considered it one of the only smart things he's ever heard Lance say
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"I got it" Hunk said. He then proceeded to grab one of the sentries and set it up in front of the transmission, after doing some signals and a thumbs up, the other dude logged off.
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Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, even Nico.
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'Nico job, Hunk" Lance said
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"Thanks" The two then high-fived with Hunk holding the robot hand
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"Download complete" Pidge said
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"What's it say" Nico asked
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"Nothing, this place doesn't have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out"
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"Well, this mission was a bust" Lance said
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"Let's get back to the castle"
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"Hold on, Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?" Allura asked
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"Um...It's scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command."
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"That's where they have the information we need, and I'm going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us"
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They looked at her and mouthed protests.
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"How are you going to get in?" was one of the many, it was also the one she chose to answer
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"Simple"
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Long story short, she's a shapeshifter, and Shiro went with her to the ship. Something about there being Galra tech in his arm, he asked Keith about it when they left.
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"Well, you know how he was captured by the Galra?"
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"Yea"
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"They were the ones who took his arm and replaced it with the robotic one. It's made of their tech, so it's able to connect with their server."
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"Oh"
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Nico didn't ask anymore. He felt a little bad for Shiro, having your entire arm taken by the enemy. He knew what it was like to be captured and imprisoned, even after the whole thing in Tartarus with Will, and the talks with Mr. D, he still had nightmares every now and then. They aren't nearly as bad as before, and he talks with Mr. D whenever they do happen, but the memory of that damned jar still hurts. He can't imagine what it would be like to be gone for a year, or to have a constant reminder of your time there and what they took from you.
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Nico had a new kind of respect for Shiro, he never seems bothered by his arm, and he looks like he's moved through the memories and the pain. It took Nico forever to overcome his time in Tartarus, his nightmares, the memories of his sister.
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He pulled himself out of his thoughts and focused on the task at hand. As he looked up, he realized that Keith was gone.
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"Where's Keith?" The others looked at him with confusion
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"Did you not just see him walk out the door?" Lance asked. Nico hadn't realized that, in his thoughts, he was completely oblivious to what was going on around him.
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"I wasn't really paying attention, so no"
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Lance just shrugged before responding, "He saw some creepy dude and went to see where he was going"
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"You didn't try to stop him!?"
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"Not much can"
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Nico became worried, Shiro, Allura, and now Keith were gone. At least Shiro and Allura had each other, but Keith was alone.
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"Can we find where he is now, like a GPS or something?"
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"Yea, there's one in our suits" Pidge said
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"And, how do I use it?"
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Pidge crawled over to him and explained (Using some science-y language that he only understood half of) how to pull up the map. She pushed a few buttons on the armband of his suit and a map-hologram thingie pulled up. A red dot was moving around on it.
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"Thanks" Nico then ran through the doors after Keith
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"Wait! Where are you-" the call from Pidge was cut off as the doors closed behind him
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He followed the red dot, having to avoid many guards to stay out of sight. Eventually, he neared the room that Keith was in. He heard a bunch of sounds that sounded like fighting. Carefully, he peered around the corner and immediately his eyes went wide.
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There Keith was, fighting some masked dude. The guy wore long robes and a mask that scared the ever living fucks out of him. He kept disappearing and appearing somewhere else, almost like he was shadow-traveling.
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The mask wasn't the scariest part, it was the aura of death he had around him. Having spent much of his time in the underworld, he'd been around some fucked up people, but none of them compared to this dude.
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Around them were giant containers of this yellow stuff. Nico didn't know what it was, but it unnerved him. This whole scene freaked him out, he needed to get Keith out of there as soon as possible.
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Again, the figure disappeared. Nico quickly looked around for where it might have gone, Keith was still far away, he was looking at his hand and didn't see Nico. A shiver was sent down his spine, then, suddenly, he was blasted forward by some sort of magical beam. He yelled a couple of less-than-gentleman-like words in Ancient Greek before landing hard on the floor. The commotion caught Keith's attention.
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"Nico!?" He yelled to him, "What are you doing!?"
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"Following you idiot!" he yelled back, "Going off by yourself is a sure way to get killed!"
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Nico turned his attention back to the mysterious dude. He was standing where Nico had been just a few minutes ago. He must've teleported behind Nico and blasted him forward. But how? How did he know Nico was there? Can he sense auras like Nico and most demigods can, or is he just really creepy?
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Nico knew next to nothing about this dude, and he didn't like it. Whenever he faced monsters, he always had the myths to compare them too. He could defeat them the same way they were in the myths and all would be fine. But against this guy, he had no knowledge to aid him.
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Again, he disappeared, before appearing next to Keith. Keith jumped back towards Nico in surprise.
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Nico got to his feet and drew his sword, he didn't know if this dude was mortal or not, but that didn't matter, stygian iron can harm mortals and immortals alike. The man eyed Nico's blade, it radiated death, one of the things Nico loved about it.
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He raised his hand and a purple light erupted from it, Nico and Keith dodged.
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It continued like this for a bit, whenever Nico or Keith got even remotely close, the dude would teleport away. They could do nothing but dodge his attacks.
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"Who is this dude!?" Nico yelled at Keith
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"Don't know!" was the response
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"Why would you fight someone if you didn't know anything about them!"
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Keith glared at him, but in that moment, the dude fired another beam at Keith, and he was too distracted to dodge.
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"KEITH!"
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Back in the control room, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk were having a serious chat about girls...
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"Does Allura ever talk about me when I'm not around" Lance asked while lying on his back
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"Oh yeah, all the time" Hunk responded
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"Really!?" Lance perked up at that
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"Yeah she's always just like- 'Lance, he's so fine I'm all atwitter'" he said, impersonating her, "And then she blushes and makes me swear not to tell anyone"
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Lance was completely amazed by this, until Hunk and Pidge started to laugh, then he realized they were joking
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They went silent for a bit
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"What do you guys think about Nico?" Lance asked, breaking the silence. Pidge just sighed before responding
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"He seems like a good person, but he has this, like, aura, around him. I-... I can't quite explain it."
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"Hold on, you feel that too!?" Hunk said.
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"Yea, what about you Lance?"
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"I feel it too, it's like he radiates death or something. Maybe it's because of his father? I also get this kind of feeling that he hangs around people that are completely different. Like their aura's have rubbed off on him"
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"That's...actually a pretty good way to put it" Hunk said
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"Maybe, we did see him talk to all those people with that magic thing. So it's possible" said Pidge
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"Yea"
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They went silent again. Hunk started to mess with the robot, making it hit itself, Pidge told him to stop, but other than that, they were completely silent.
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"KEITH!" Nico yelled
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Keith had been blasted backwards, and had hit one of the jars. His body was limp at the base of it, unresponsive.
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Nico tried to get to him, but the man appeared in his way. Nico jumped backwards to avoid another strike.
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Nico tried again to get to Keith, but the man blocked him. Again he tried and again he failed. Again and again and again, he could do nothing to help Keith.
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Nico grew desperate, he reached deeper into the ground, searching for anything he could use. Bones, spirits, he didn't care, but alas, he found nothing.
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The man disappeared again, Nico looked around, for where he might have gone. Suddenly, the man appeared behind him. Acting on survival instincts, he shadow-traveled away.
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His opponent tilted his head, as if confused. Nico remembered what Fleecy had told him, the Mist would no longer work to cover up his abilities.
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This could work, he thought to himself. His enemy has no clue how he's able to do this, and Nico doesn't think he's a part of the demi-god world, so he has the upper hand. If he uses his abilities, he can at least outrun him. All he needs to do is get to Keith, then he can shadow-travel to Hunk, Lance, and Pidge. The man doesn't know where the others are, or even if the others exist, so once with them, they can lay low and wait for Shiro and Allura to get back.
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"You can use dark magic, interesting... Are you the person the High Priestess foresaw?" Nico froze, the man's voice was low and raspy, it sent chills down Nico's spine. High Priestess? Dark Magic? What was he talking about?
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"So...you're crazy?" Nico finally decided on saying.
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The man tilted his head in consideration. "You should be careful who you criticize, young mage. If you were to surrender now, you might have a future within our ranks, assuming you're Galra"
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"Yea, no thanks"
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"Pity, not many mages can farstep at such a young age. It's a shame I will have to dispose of someone with such vast potential"
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"That's assuming you can, all you can do is teleport and shoot light beams. Honestly, that's not much of an achievement"
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"You should not assume that someone shows all their cards. You are clearly incompetent and speak rashly"
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"And here you are assuming I showed all of my cards." This was a total bluff, there weren't any bodies or sprites he could use his abilities on, so he had indeed, shown all of his cards. He wasn't in the gods domain, he was separated from not only his fellow demi-gods but also his new team, and he still had no idea who this person was, right now, bluff was all he had.
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"If that is indeed true, why have you not assisted your subordinate yet?" The man said in an almost amused tone. That pissed Nico off. Keith wasn't his 'subordinate' he was Nico's friend! Nico stopped...when had he become friends with Keith? Was it when Keith helped Nico, or when Nico found Keith fighting this dude? Did Keith even consider Nico a friend? Or was he just a stranger?
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He was pulled out of his thoughts by the man's cold laugh. "I was right! You have nothing left! You can't bluff your way through this encounter! You will die along with your subordinate!" Nico felt himself get angry all over again, it didn't matter if he and Keith were friends, he couldn't let Keith die. No matter what.
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"You don't even know who I am, if anything, you're the one who's going to die." Nico yelled before running forward, when the man disappeared, something in Nico's mind clicked into place. This time, something changed
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When he looked around, he saw the man behind him.
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"You're just a measly mage who spent all his time mastering farstep. You can do nothing to me" The man declared proudly. He disappeared, again, and Nico's eyes went wide.
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This time, this time Nico could see him. He could see the man moving around. He was glowing purple, with an almost transparent look.
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His image solidified in front of Nico. He attacked Nico, but Nico was ready. He couldn't catch Nico off guard with his teleporting anymore. Because Nico could see him. He brought his sword down, but the man disappeared, or at least, that's what was supposed to happen. To Nico, he just became translucent again.
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The man stumbled backwards, before solidifying a few yards away.
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"How! How could you find me! I've mastered farstep! No mage can detect me! Especially not an amateur mage like you!" He yelled at Nico while shooting beams at him. Nico dodged the beams easily, he tried to remain calm. He didn't know how he could do this, but he can, and that's all that matters. He closed the distance between himself and the man, eventually, he brought his sword up and got ready to strike.
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The man tried to flee, but Nico shadow-traveled in front of him.
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"You got one thing wrong, and it caused your downfall, I am NOT a mage, I'm a demi-god" He said before bringing his sword down. The man was too stunned to try to teleport away. He erupted in light and got absorbed by Nico's sword.
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Nico felt completely drained. Almost as bad as when he carried the Athena Parthenos from Greece to Camp-Half Blood along with Reyna and Coach Hedge. He stumbled over to Keith, who was still unconscious.
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This was one of the only times he was thankful that he could sense spirits. Nico could tell Keith wasn't dead, he needed medical attention for sure, but he had time. He tried to pick Keith up, but fell over. He had assumed he was in the state to shadow-travel again, but clearly, he was not. And with this weird new ability of his, he should have brought some Ambrosia on this mission.
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The problem was that he was almost out, the supply he kept on him was only enough to heal life threatening injuries and was meant to be replaced, he didn't have extra, and there weren't any dryads out here to make some for him. He already ate a bunch after fighting the Minotaur and being pulled out here, he couldn't eat anymore in case he got seriously injured.
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Right now the only thing he can do was rest, but he needed to get Keith to the others. Nico thought of four possible options:
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#1. Attempt to carry Keith throughout the twisting hallways to get to Hunk, Lance, and Pidge;
Pros- Won't have to shadow-travel.
Cons- Might run into guards, won't be stealthy, might get lost, if Allura and Shiro aren't back then they can't get Keith to the castle until they get back, Nico might not have enough energy to carry him all the way there, and it risks hurting Keith even more.
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#2. Shadow-travel to the others;
Pros- Will avoid any guards, stealthy, and saves time.
Cons- Will be incredibly difficult in Nico's current state, runs the same risk if Allura and Shiro aren't back, and also risks hurting Keith even more.
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#3. Shadow-travel directly to the castle;
Pros- Won't have to worry about guards, saves time, and no risk if Shiro and Allura aren't back.
Cons- Will be even more difficult and he can't have anymore Ambrosia, he doesn't know if shadow-traveling through space takes more energy, and risks Keith.
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Or #4. Get in contact with the others and have them come get them two;
Pros- Will save energy, and Keith won't get hurt.
Cons- Might draw attention, and the risk of Shiro and Allura.
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Nico considered all four possibilities. He doesn't know how he would contact Pidge, there are probably comms in the suit, but he doesn't know how to work them, so option 4 is out. He tried lifting Keith again and fell over, again. That eliminates option one.
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Now only option 2 and 3 were left. He knew Keith needed to be brought to the castle as quickly as possible, if he were to shadow-travel to the others, and Allura and Shiro weren't back, that wouldn't happen. But on the flip side, if they were back, it would save Nico energy and he wouldn't have to shadow-travel Keith too far.
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If he shadow-traveled straight to the castle, it would put more strain on both him and Keith, but it would save time and keep the risk of Allura and Shiro to a minimum.
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Shadow-traveling doesn't hurt companions that much, it's more of just a weird feeling. With that in mind, he chose option 3, the risk to Keith was the lowest, and if it meant saving him, Nico could take the strain.
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He knelt down next to Keith, and tried to pick him up one last time.
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He could hold him close to the ground, standing up was the problem, but with this solution, it wasn't a problem.
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Nico took a deep breath and closed his eyes, before focusing his energy into this one task, just like he practiced. He focused on the control room, Nico felt the shadows take hold, and the familiar tug in his gut. He felt the power drain out of him, but he didn't stop, he couldn't stop, he refused to stop.
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He felt like passing out, but he tried to stay calm. He's felt this way before, he can take it, he has to take it. For Keith. He has to do this. He has to do this for Keith.
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He felt the movement stop, signaling that he had reached his destination, or at least, a destination. Slowly he opened his eyes. He felt Keith's weight in his arms, which was a good sign that he was still with him.
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Exhaustion crept into Nico's bones, and his vision went dark. He fell sideways and the last thing he saw was Coran rushing over to him in a panic.
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He had made it. Everything was going to be fine. Everything needed to be fine. Because he couldn't lose any more friends. He promised himself that it wasn't going to happen.
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Not again...
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Never again...
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Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I've already started on the next one, so hopefully it won't be as long of a wait. I wasn't able to make this chapter as long as I wanted it to be, but I hit all the points I wanted so that's good. I had intended this chapter to be around 5000 words, it ended up being around 4300, which isn't too far off, but it is still a considerable amount. Also, I've finally finished updating the other chapters to have dots in between the lines so hooray! Anyhow, have a great day/night!